(Apologetics) What Is Capable Of Proof

“Proof” is an essential part of man’s daily activities, though most people are not aware of it. When some one places a postal stamp on an envelope, purchases a ticket before entering a bus or train, or when one places his rubber-stamp on a document, all of these form part of everyday legal proof.

Though we are surrounded with so many activities that involve proof and evidence, most of us do not take time to study the concept of proof. Even among researchers the ideas related to proof and evidence are often hazy. Consequently they end up claming proof for things which are not capable of proof. They also claim to have disproved things which cannot be disproved. While such claims make no difference to the secular world, they do make all the difference to the Christian Apologist. It is his duty to expose the fallacies.

The first step is to understand what is capable of proof and what is not. Some of the important categories are given below:

a. Universals Cannot Always Be Proved: Statements which apply to avery large population cannot generally be proved.

For example, if someone were to try to prove that all ravens in the world are dark. it would be an impossible task as no one can physically locate and check all the ravens in the world. On the other hand, finding a single non-black (gray, brown) raven will immediately falsify such a statement. Thus falsification of universal statements is possible, but proving them is simply not possible in day-to-day life.

Coming to the Bible, if someone were to make a statement (as many radicals in 1800s did do) that the art of writing was not known at the time of Moses, he is making a universal statement. He is assuming that all possible information about all ancient civilizations have been discovered exhaustively. Any reasonable person can see the fallacy of this assumption because by the very nature of it, archeology and history can neither preserve nor deliver exhaustive information about such matters. They can be used to discover what existed, but cannot be used to make claims about what did not exist. It must also be kept in mind that even after 200 years of excavation, only about ten per cent of Bible-related sites have been excavated.

b. Only Mathematics Has Universal Proofs: While universal cannot be proved in daily life or life-related sciences like history, they can be handled in mathematics and physical science.

Thus one can prove that the sum of the two sides of any triangle (in plain geometry) will always be greater than the third side. In fact most of mathematics depends upon universals. Trouble arises when people expect the same thing to happen in other fields of study and try to prove things universally where it is not possible. Trouble also arises when they try to use mathematical proofs in non-mathematical areas such as theology. A prove or refute the doctrine of Trinity with the help of mathematics.

Physics, Chemistry, and other such physical science have many Universal Laws. One should always keep in mind that this Universality is much different from that in mathematics. While universality in maths is an essential part of the presuppositions. These presuppositions are in turn the result of a Bible-based theistic view of the universe.

c. The Existence Of An Object Or Phenomenon Can Be Proved: This happens to be the major function of all researches. They try to discover and study laws that exist about which one may or may not have prior knowledge.

Today every educated person knows about gravitational attraction. The whole universe is sustained by this force. People also know that carbon is the main constituent of Organic Chemistry, and therefore carbon is the main constituent od all living thing.

Moving to historical science, the existence of many of the Pharaohs (contemporary with Abraham), kings of Persia and Babylon (some of whom are mentioned in the Bible), Herods, Alexander the Great, the early Greek Philosophers and numerous other persons is known. Information is also available about the existence of numerous places, races, and people. Scientific investigation can demonstrate all that. But if one tries to prove that a phenomena, person, or people-group does not (or did not exist), things are not easy.

Common people, and often even researchers, assume that if a person, place or event is not mentioned in archeological records, then that person or place never existed. This is false deduction. Lack of the information is not proof, but only deficiency of material. In mathematics there are many problems for which nobody has been able to find a solution. But that does not mean that it is unsolvable, or that a solution does not exist. It only means that the present level of mathematical competence, or the routes taken so far to solve that problem, are not sufficient.

The existence of an object, person, or phenomenon can be proved, but it is not always possible to prove that someone or something did not exist. In other words non-existance cannot be proved in most cases.

d. Lack Of Proof Does Not Prove Or Disprove Anything: This is one area of proof where many people go wrong.

Though man has been studying nature for thousands of years, he has barely scratched the surface. What remains to be discovered is infinitely more than what has been discovered so far. This means that there are very large gaps and holes in man’s knowledge of Physical as well as historical and social sciences. Consequently, a gap in information does not mean anything, least of all a disproof.

The Christian Apologist needs to keep this always in mind, specially when he faces those who attack the Bible form a historical perspective. These critics frequently use lack of information to mean lack of proof or even disproof. First of all, this is wrong in principle. Second, countless times they have been proved wrong. They claimed a certain person or race did not exist because no proof was found, and eventually proof came forth and their claims were exposed to be false.

The same mistake can be done in empirical sciences also. For example when AIDS started to because an epidemic in the late eighties and early nineties, many people claimed that AIDS does not spread through any bodily fluids other than blood. The reasoning was that the HIV Virus was never found in bodily fluids such as saliva or tears. However, this was a false claim. All what they should have claimed is only this much: “so far HIV has not been found in other bodily fluids, but this is not a guarantee that it shall never be found”. And sure enough, HIV eventually made its appearance in almost all fluids emanating from the human body.

Whether it is the empirical science or historical, lack of proof does not prove anything either positively or negatively.

e. Each Thesis Needs Proof Appropriate To Its Own Category: A statement may be historical, sociological, economical, or empirical in nature. It might also be logic-related or mathematical. The proof also should belong to the same category.

Historical information needs canons of historical proof, and empirical information needs experimental demonstration, not vice versa. A good example of mis-application can be seen in class rooms where teachers claim that Einstein’s Relativity has proved that everything in this world (including moral values) are related. This is a totally wrong application because what Einstein postulated applies only to objects in motion, not to anything else. Further, even for objects in motion, this is only a “theory” and not a law. The Nobel Prize committee clearly recognized the theoretical and philosophical nature of he Theory of Relativity, and Einstein was not given the Nobel Prize for Relativity. On the contrary, he was awarded the Nobel Prize for explaining the Photoelectric effect on a sound mathematical basis.

Each claim should be established by the canons of proof that are applicable for that kind of information. Physics cannot be used to disprove ethical values, and history cannot be used to disprove Chemistry. The same with all the subject.

f. Circumstantial Evidence Is Not Proof: When the circumstances surrounding an event point to a certain person or cause, but when no direct evidence is available, a solution is proposed based upon what is called “circumstantial evidence”. However, this is not proof, because a proof needs to be cent-per-cent accurate, and there should not be an exception to it.

Circumstantial Evidence, on the other hand, only indicates that a certain event was probably caused by a person or a certain cause. However, the every word “probable” shows that it is not certain. What is not certain is not acceptable proof.

While circumstantial evidence does have some value in legal investigations, deductions based upon them have on many occasions been demonstrated to be totally wrong. Circumstantial Evidence has led to the conviction of many innocent people in the law courts around the world. The error did come to light in many cases and the original judgment was reversed, but often it was too late for the innocent person who was punished on the basis of more circumstantial Evidence.

Every Christian Apologist should remember that circumstantial Evidence is not proof. It is only an expression of probability less than one into error. Such evidence should not be used against or in favor of Bible.

Summary

Almost everyone in the world thinks that anything in the world can be proved or disproved. They are wrong in thinking so. At present only a well-defined set of things can be proved. These range from mathematical upto historical truths, provided the well-developed canons for proof in the respective areas are used. Anything that violates these canons is not a proof even if they are presented by the most respected scholar in the most sophisticated manner.